Cresco killer will die in prison

Saturday

Sep 21, 2013 at 12:01 AM

One of two men serving life without parole for fatally stabbing a well-loved East Stroudsburg Crime Watch member, Ian Seagraves failed to convince a judge Friday that he should be considered for parole in the future.

ANDREW SCOTT

One of two men serving life without parole for fatally stabbing a well-loved East Stroudsburg Crime Watch member, Ian Seagraves failed to convince a judge Friday that he should be considered for parole in the future.

Defendants convicted as adults of committing first-degree murder as juveniles cannot automatically get life-without-parole sentences without judges first weighing certain factors to see if parole might be considered in the future, according to a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down after Seagraves and co-defendant Shawn Freemore were sentenced in December 2011. These factors include how mature a defendant was for their age when they committed the murder, their mental status and whether they were influenced by peer pressure, the ruling said.

Monroe County President Judge Margherita Patti Worthington on Friday said she finds that, based on experts having psychologically evaluated Seagraves, he was mature beyond his age at the time of the murder, was mentally sound and in fact called the shots when planning the murder. Worthington thus found Seagraves doesn't ever deserve any consideration for parole and upheld his life-without-parole sentence.

Seagraves, now 21, and Freemore, 23, both formerly of Cresco, were convicted and sentenced in 2011 in the February 2009 pre-meditated murder of Michael Goucher, 21, in Price Township.

A gay man, Goucher met Freemore online and went to meet him Feb. 3, 2009, for a sexual tryst in a secluded location in Price Township, according to testimony. Actually, Freemore and Seagraves lured Goucher with plans to kill him and take whatever money or other valuables he might have, police said.

Goucher was stabbed 45 times and his body left covered with snow in a wooded area.

His car was moved to another location, Snow Hill Road, where it was found abandoned Feb. 10, 2009. Goucher's body was found the next day, eight days after he was reported missing.

When charged with Freemore afterward, Seagraves later unsuccessfully tried moving his case from the adult to the juvenile criminal court system, since he was only 17 at the time of the murder. He was charged as an adult, as was Freemore, who was 19 at the time.

After their joint December 2011 sentencing came the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on an Alabama case involving two defendants who were even younger than Seagraves was when they committed murder.

Joe D'Andrea, Seagraves' attorney at the time, filed a motion asking Monroe County Court to consider the factors outlined in the Supreme Court ruling prior to transferring Seagraves from Monroe County Correctional Facility to state prison, according to court records.

"The Supreme Court decision was reached with the mindset that defendants convicted as adults for committing first-degree murders as juveniles can show the capacity for change as they grow older while serving life sentences," Seagraves' defense attorney Michael Ventrella told Worthington at Friday's hearing on the motion, standing next to the handcuffed, clean-shaven Seagraves in his county inmate uniform.

"While in no way trying to minimize horrific situations like this that leave victims' loved ones in pain, the higher court has ruled that closing the door to convicted defendants being considered for parole in the future is unconstitutional. All we're asking is that you leave the door open," Ventrella said.

When asked if he had anything to say, Seagraves said he has been through a lot in his life and that incarceration has made him regret some of his decisions. Speaking in a manner that showed no remorse and not apologizing for killing Goucher, he said that, in the unlikely event he would ever be granted parole, he would never again find himself in a situation like the one leading to his current position.

Goucher's family and friends were present and some of them had their say. Goucher's uncle, William Searfoss, came forward, holding a framed picture of Goucher sitting by an organ he played in the church he attended.

"This is not about the defendant," Searfoss said, trying to keep tears at bay and pointing at Seagraves who silently gazed back at him. "He can talk about how much he's going to change. He can apply for sainthood, but this is not about him. This is about Mike.

"The defendant can still get to see and talk to his family while in prison," Searfoss said. "We'll never get to do that again with Mike. The defendant took that from us."

Goucher's tearful mother, Mary Anne Goucher, said Seagraves doesn't belong in civilized society and should never be allowed to walk free again.

"My brother's life was brutally reduced to 21 years," said sister Ashley Goucher. "It's appropriate that Ian Seagraves be given his 'triple c's,' — cold, concrete and cell — for the rest of his life. Because he's earned it."

Since Worthington was not the judge presiding over the murder trial, First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso presented two key pieces of evidence from the trial to help drive home to Worthington why Seagraves should not ever be considered for parole. One was a copy of the lyrics of a rap song Seagraves wrote after the murder, describing in detail how it was planned and executed.

The other was a digital recording Seagraves and Freemore made of themselves rapping those lyrics. They rapped about luring and then stabbing Goucher in the throat and head, the "blood gushing" and calling him a "faggot" who "pleaded for his life."

As the recording was played in court, Seagraves lowered his head and slightly nodded along to the beat while Goucher's loved ones listened silently, some of them in tears. One man closed his eyes in disgust while a woman lowered her head and covered her ears.

"I can only begin to imagine the horrific experience, the fear and distress Mr. Goucher must have endured that night," Worthington told Seagraves afterward. "Your actions on that night showed no compassion for human life and a coldness and calculation beyond what we usually see. I see no reason to uphold anything less than a sentence of life without parole."

Worthington in addition upheld other parts of the sentence totaling 8½ to 20 years for the related crimes of conspiracy to murder and tampering with physical evidence.